Larry's Loon Blog
Larry Backlund brings decades of loon watching experience to his daily Loon Blog. With a view overlooking his nesting platform, he gives a rare look into the life of a nesting loon, with words that can only be described from a man that loves the birds as much as he does.
WE HAVE A CHICK!
He still looks like he is wet and he is not out yet.
But he is TALKING a lot and moving around.
This has been one long labor.
Now to get him completely out and dried.
And on to the second egg.
Oh the DRAMA!
Copyright 2015 Larry R Backlund
44 degrees F Partly Cloudy Wind Calm
Sunrise 5:28 am CDT Sunset 8:54 pm CDT
I am STUNNED!
We just had a nest exchange and there was NO chick under the male who had been sitting there for 17 hours and 10 minutes.
The female quickly and efficiently moved on to the eggs.
With all the wing lifts and body pushups that the male had done all last night and throughout the night, I was sure we were going to see a little chick this morning.
The exchange was quick enough that I could not examine the eggs.
But both eggs looked to be intact yet.
So now we wait some more.
I still have to believe that the male was reacting to something from a chick trying to get out of the egg. But there was no chick to be seen.
Now let's see if the female reacts the same way.
And let's see if there IS a chick trying to be born.
Copyright 2015 Larry R Backlund
36 degrees Clear Wind Calm
Sunrise 5:29 am CDT Sunset 8:53 pm CDT
So far I do not see any signs of an imminent hatch.
The loon on the nest, who I presume is the male, is sitting quietly. No obvious "twitching" from movement of chicks beneath him.
His wings are tightly wrapped around the precious eggs to protect them from the cold morning air.
Wisps of fog drift lazily across the surface of the lake.
We are still under a 'frost advisory' until 8 am this morning.
Right now we are at 36 degrees here at "Loon Lake". And the temperature still could drop a few degrees in the next couple hours.
A number of reporting stations around the area are already a few degrees lower than that. And numerous reports around the Arrowhead of Minnesota have temperatures in the upper 20s!
Good grief! This is the first of June!
The wind has gone way down after the last couple days of winds rocking the nest in the waves on the lake.
The sky is clear and this should prove to be a sunny, if cool, spring day.
A perfect day for our first chick to arrive.
If we are going to have a successful hatch, expect to see one chick hatch first. And then the other chick will hatch about 24 hours later.
A couple weeks ago I said that if I had to guess, the eggs would hatch either today or tomorrow.
I am still standing by that prediction.
Now we can only wait to see if it comes true.
The drama builds.
Copyright, 2015 Larry R Backlund
43 degrees F Clear Wind 13 mph N
Sunrise 5:29 am CDT Sunset 8:52 pm CDT
On an unseasonably cold and windy morning, we have just had our morning nest exchange.
The male has left after his long overnight shift the nest and the female smoothly moved onto the nest, turned the eggs and settled in for her shift.
The eggs are now once again protected from the wind and cold air. Safely sealed under the female loon.
Are there chicks in those eggs? How far along are they? Are they doing well? When will they hatch?
So many questions. So few answers. And the loons aren't talking.
So we can only wait and watch.
It will take the chick sometime to work its way out of the egg as it uses its egg tooth to break through the shell. It will work its way around the egg internally first and then externally through the shell. This is something called "pipping".
Or as someone has referred to it, "pip and zip" as it unzips its egg.
Whenever it is going to happen, it definitely should be within the next few days
Now that some of the flowers have bloomed, just in time for the arrival of our chicks, it may be time for me to tell what they are.
You have made so many wonderful guesses. And people have guessed one of them, but not the other.
First of all, there are yellow irises and daylilies which have not started to bloom yet.
My yellow irises around the house are already blooming. But the irises on the nest have suffered a number of indignities that they do not look like they are even close to blooming yet.
First it was very cold and dry for them during the first couple weeks on the nest. So they did not grow much.
And then the loons seemed to want to dig and mine every bit of soil they could from around the iris roots. Which probably set them back even more. So they are surviving but that is about it. I do not see any blossoms that are ready to open.
There were two new plants that I had put on the nest this year. And you have guessed one of them.
The white flowers are daisies. And specifically they are Shasta daisies
The ones on the far side of the nest have been blooming for almost a week now, but the blossoms have been up above the top edge of your picture so you could not see them. The ones on the right side have now opened and are in view.
The other new plants that I put on the nest this year is the lavender flower that you see right next to the nest.
If you remember, the female loon pulled it out by its roots when she was 'excavating' and moved it right next to the nest! I am surprised that it even survived!
There was a second plant of the same flower in the top corner furthest from the camera. But that one obviously did not survive all the excavating.
The plant has been stunted by its rough transplanting. Normally it would be almost 3 feet tall.
It is what I have known all my life as Sweet Rocket.
I am not sure what the scientific name for it is, but it is a wildflower. It has a head of individual florets and in a large grouping is really quite pretty. It can spread and take over an area and can be quite invasive. But during its main bloom period a large group of them offset with white daisies and yellow and purple irises can be quite striking.
Those of you who were watching very early in the year may remember what someone referred to as a 'stick' in the upper left hand corner of the nest. A stick that the wind blew over fairly quickly. That stick was the flower stalk from last year's Sweet Rocket flowers.'
The other small green plants that you see beginning to grow at the bottom center of your picture look like they might be Jewel Weed. This is also a wildflower that often grows along the shores of lake and rivers and swamps. I have a lot of it that I let grow along the lakeshore. Later in the summer it has attractive yellow/orange flowers. It is part of the impatiens family.
But the best part about the plant is that if you have mosquito bites or even poison ivy, crushing the leaves and stems and rubbing them on the site will give you some relief from the itching.
So now you know what the new flowers are.
And they have bloomed just in time to welcome our new chicks.
But the chicks aren't quite here yet.
We will have to wait just a little bit longer before we see what could be some of the cutest chicks in the whole world of birds.
And then unfortunately we only get to see them for about one day before they leave the nest!
Let me tell you about something else you might be interested in. Most of you know the name Kevin Kenow. I h talked about Kevin many times and the work that he has done for years studying loons. Kevin Kenow is with the United States Geological Services (USGS) and he is the one who has banded our loons. They bands that you are now thankfully able to use to know which loon is which. Which one is the male and which one is the female.
For those of you in Minnesota or even the Upper Midwest, you might be interested in hearing Kevin speak. He will be giving a presentation on the results of some of his research on loons at Douglas Lodge in Itasca State Park on Thursday evening, July 8th at 7pm. I am sure you would find it very interesting.
Itasca State Park is well known to Minnesotans. But even those of you from other states or even other countries around the world may know of Itasca State Park. You just didn't know you knew it.
It is Minnesota's oldest state park and the second oldest state park in America, right after Niagara Falls State Park.
Itasca State Park is where the Mississippi River, one of the great rivers of the world starts!
The Mississippi River flows out of Lake Itasca and at its headwaters, you can walk across the Mississippi on a few rocks!
For many years it was not known where the Mississippi River started. But finally the explorer Henry Schoolcraft found its true source. In fact the name "Itasca" comes from the Latin words for 'true head' - "verITAS CAput".
I bet you never thought you were going to learn all that when you started reading this morning.
But the main thing that all of us want to "learn" is when the loon chicks are going to hatch.
That is still a secret known only to the loons.
Copyright 2015 Larry R Backlund
64 degrees F Partly Cloudy Wind Calm
Sunrise 5:30 am CDT Sunset 8:51 pm CDT
The clock continues to tick.
We are one more day closer to the hoped for hatch of our little loon chicks.
Oh, to be able to look inside those eggs and know what is going on. And to truly understand the wonder of what is going on.
If we are to have a successful hatch, it should occur in the next few days.
If it goes much beyond Tuesday of next week, then there would be cause for concern. But for now we look forward with great anticipation to seeing two new healthy and cute little loon chicks on the nest.
I realized that we have not talked yet this year about why it is so difficult for the loon to walk on dry ground.
So for you veterans of the LoonCam, this will be review time.
But for those of you who are new to the LoonCam, especially so many school classes that have been watching, this will be a fun little game that we will play to better understand our loons.
A few weeks ago someone said 'It looks like the loon is injured' when they saw the loon clumsily and with some difficulty get up on the nest.
What they were seeing is that the loon was built for the water, not for getting around on land. In fact, a loon is so poorly adapted to being on land, if they were on dry ground far from water they would die. For they could not take off and fly. The only way they would survive is if someone rescued them.
A loon finds it difficult if not almost impossible to get around on dry land.
Let's take a look at why this is.
Do this exercise with me.
Pretend that you are a chicken!
Stretch out your arm in front of you. Go ahead. If anybody is around watching you, they won't think you are crazy. Or should I say "loony"!?
Now let's pretend your arm and hand are the leg and foot of a chicken.
Your hand is the chicken's foot. Spread your fingers and wiggle them. Your forearm is the chicken's lower leg. And your upper arm and biceps are the chicken's drumstick.
Now move your arms like you were a chicken walking around.
It is pretty easy to do, isn't it? You can see how a chicken would walk. You can move your 'foot' foward and back. Even from side to side. If need be, you could probably even run.
That is how a chicken is built and how it gets around.
Now let's look at the difference between a chicken and a loon. And see why it is so difficult for a loon to walk on land.
Do the same thing with your arms.
Your hand is the loon's webbed foot. Your forearm is the loon's lower leg, where you see the colored bands that we use to identify the male from the female And your upper arm once again is the loon's drumstick.
But this time pretend that you have a piece of cloth or a big rubber band wrapped around your upper arm and your body. That cloth or rubber band holds your arm tightly against the side of your body so that you are no longer able to move it freely.
Now try to "walk" like you did a little bit ago when you pretended that you were a chicken walking. Don't let your upper arm or drumstick move away from your body at all. Hold it tightly against your side.
It is a totally different feel, isn't it?
Where it was easy for you to walk when you were a chicken, now it is VERY difficult to walk. All because you are holding your upper arm or drumstick against your body.
That is exactly what a loon is faced with.
For, you see, the loon's drumstick is totally encased in body skin. It is held tightly up against the loon's body by that skin. Only the lower part of the leg is able to move around freely.
And that lower leg comes out of the loon's skin way near the back of its body.
So now you know why a loon has such difficulty walking on dry land. Remember that each time you watch the loon get up on the nest and try to make its way to the eggs. It is only able to move the lower part of its leg and its foot. It cannot move the drumstick at all.
It makes them very powerful swimmers. But they could never be a marathon runner!
Today keep a close watch for any signs that we may be getting close to a hatch.
I don't expect it to happen today. But it probably will happen in the next few days.
The excitement builds as we approach the climax of the arrival of our little look chicks!
Copyright 2015 Larry R Backlund
Ron Schara, and his trusted black lab, Raven, began sharing stories of the outdoor lifestyle back in 1995. Minnesota Bound is the show that started it all for Ron Schara and he quickly found a passion for putting his words onto the television screen. Today, it remains a trademark program and is now running over 600 episodes strong. We seek characters that have a story to tell. We seek out destinations and find out what makes them special. We share the love of outdoors and those that enjoy it. Yes, it's fishing and hunting, but it's also camping, hiking, canoeing, archery, bird watching, ice climbing and so much more. Minnesota Bound is a fan favorite winning several hundred OWAA awards during its lifespan, including 11 Emmy Awards.
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